Looming over the vacation season this winter are three viruses as a substitute of two: RSV, COVID and flu.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
All proper. This week kicked off the vacation season. So you’re taking a lot of individuals touring for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Yr’s, you add it with getting along with household and pals and that equals infectious illness medical doctors getting very, very nervous, and never simply due to COVID this 12 months. NPR well being correspondent Rob Stein joins us now to clarify. Rob, for the final two years, Thanksgiving helped ignite some fairly massive surges of COVID. So what is the state of affairs like this 12 months?
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: , A, it is fairly totally different. , the final two years, the large concern was the pandemic. And for good purpose. Thanksgiving acted nearly like massive tremendous spreader occasions. This third pandemic winter, COVID continues to be with us, however the image is way more difficult in each good methods and dangerous.
MARTÍNEZ: All proper. Let’s begin with the nice methods.
STEIN: Yeah. So the excellent news is the state of affairs with COVID is a lot better. Do not get me mistaken, it isn’t nice by any means. The virus continues to be infecting tens of 1000’s and killing lots of on daily basis. And new omicron subvariants are taking up which might be even higher at sneaking across the immune system. And meaning a lot of individuals are nonetheless catching the virus, even when they’re vaccinated and boosted or already had COVID. And the vacations might simply make that worse. However the immunity individuals have from all these photographs and infections ought to maintain most from getting so sick they find yourself in a hospital or die. And the brand new bivalent omicron boosters ought to assist reinforce individuals’s immunity. I talked about this with Dr. Ashish Jha on the White Home.
ASHISH JHA: I am hopeful, given the place we’re with this outbreak, with COVID, that we’re not taking a look at one thing like final winter. However look, on the finish of the day, Mom Nature will get the ultimate phrase on this stuff.
STEIN: And that is as a result of we’re not simply coping with a pandemic this 12 months. We’re now dealing with what many infectious illness specialists are calling a tripledemic.
MARTÍNEZ: A tripledemic. Nice.
STEIN: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: What does that imply, Rob?
STEIN: Yeah. Nicely, you realize, through the pandemic, different respiratory viruses have been principally no-shows due to all the things everybody did to cease COVID from spreading. However now that life has principally gotten again to regular, all these viruses aren’t simply again, they’re again with a vengeance. RSV rebounded actually early by infecting all of the pandemic infants who primarily had no immunity as a result of they have been so remoted the final two years. And that is overwhelming youngsters’s hospitals. After which the worst flu season in years took off early as effectively, making extra children sick with a flu bug that is additionally hitting their grandparents onerous. I talked about this with Dr. Tina Tan, an infectious illness specialist at Northwestern.
TINA TAN: As a result of RSV and flu and COVID can all trigger actually extreme illness, it is actually going to place a pressure on the hospital methods, very very similar to we noticed with that first wave of COVID, the place the hospital methods in some locations have been simply utterly overwhelmed.
STEIN: So Tan and others are urging individuals to do no matter they will to assist maintain that from taking place.
MARTÍNEZ: All proper. Which is what?
STEIN: Nicely, you realize, for starters, get a flu shot. It is not too late. And in addition get a brand new bivalent omicron booster whilst you’re at it. We’re nonetheless ready for knowledge on how effectively these boosters work, particularly towards the most recent crop of subvariants. However they definitely cannot harm. And other people ought to mud off all their COVID habits. , keep dwelling in the event that they’re sick, open home windows as a lot as potential, wash their fingers and even put these masks again on, particularly round infants and different susceptible household and pals.
The excellent news, A, is RSV would possibly already be peaking, and there is a likelihood the flu might come and go rapidly, too. There’s even a concept that the flu and RSV might assist tamp down COVID this 12 months like COVID did to these viruses the final two years. However, you realize, all we actually know for positive is that this uncommon mixture of respiratory bugs is making this vacation season extremely unpredictable.
MARTÍNEZ: That is NPR well being correspondent Rob Stein. Rob, thanks.
STEIN: Positive factor, A.
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